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Thursday, March 1, 2012

I Prefer Dessert : A Preview of Nevada

Many travelers have entered Nevada in the past only to leave with their dignity stripped and their wallets empty. Gambling, whores, alcohol, and other vices too vile to mention (meet me in the secret blog chamber for further discussion) are the norm in America's modern version of Sodom and Gomorrah. Somehow many visitors leave satisfied and come back time and again. For these degenerates, swilling a beer while spinning the roulette wheel at 8:30 in the morning is an acceptable way of life. There's just no accounting for taste.I'll be skipping these questionable activities for the most part, as my hike through Nevada does not include the flashy lights and gauche architecture of Las Vegas or the tacky charm of Reno, the biggest little city hosting a show about ineffective law enforcement. Instead, my highlights will include the bustling berg of Ely, desert, some infinitesimal towns, desert, more desert, and finally Virginia City, Carson City, and Lake Tahoe. I imagine I'll be ducking my head in the cold waters of Tahoe for some time if fate allows me so far down the trail. I do plan on visiting a little place in Virginia City called the Bucket of Blood so don't bet on me. Without question, as with Utah, attaining water is the greatest difficulty I should face in Nevada. No state has less rainfall, so natural sources are rare to non-existent. People are even rarer in this section, so there won't be a lot of houses where I can beg for liquid refreshment. Did I mention the temperatures can reach the 120s? A dry heat, so I'm sure that won't be any problem. My mother has promised to help through part of this stretch and God bless her for doing so, Nevada during high summer is not exactly a prime vacation destination. There are fourteen different mountain ranges in Nevada, so I can hope the increased altitude will ease the heat in some spots. Hopefully I can finish the five hundred miles of trail without mimicking the Wicked Witch's last line in "The Wizard of Oz."